The Journal News reports about Mark Sabia, a regular in New York professional sports press boxes that blended into the working media crowd for years… except the outlet he represented, Westchester Cable Services, doesn’t exist. Sabia claims he’s never misrepresented himself to anyone, although representatives of teams like the Yankees, Giants, and the like, disagree.

Many television and radio stations don’t travel with New York’s pro teams, so it wasn’t unusual that Sabia showed up only at home games. He rarely did “stand-ups” after games ? the live reports you see on the evening news ? but many smaller outlets don’t. Sabia, 39, with a predilection for garish shirts, did what reporters do in locker rooms, which is ask questions. And it was easy to blend in. Journal News sports reporters saw him all the time.

According to the story, a Google search for Westchester Cable Services produced one hit, which makes no mention of the outlet once you click the link to visit it.

If you get your news from The Daily Show or The Onion, you shouldn’t assume they’re all made up… The Wall Street Journal is taking a jab at John Kerry for complaining about Republican tactics to keep potential Democrat voters away from the polls, using as an example a story about the distribution of leaflets handed out saying “Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday,” and people told in telephone calls that “if you’ve ever had a parking ticket, you’re not allowed to vote.” Sure enough, that joke was published by The Onion and Scrappleface, and yet, the sophomoric anti-voting shenanigans still took place, as this one reported by The Washington Post. Other not-so-funny screw-ups can be found at VotersUnite.org. Just like dittoheads accepting Rush’s idiot rants as gospel, even when they are proved lies, the masses continue to eat this crap.

Some years ago, Spy magazine named Texas the most annoying state in the country. That was in 1996, so this was concocted without the benefit of having Tom Delay around. And in case you haven’t noticed how much more you have to stretch your dollar these days, thanks to all those tax cuts, maybe you will once the thought of declaring bankruptcy rears its ugly head. Crashpoint recommends:

Everybody needs to pay their bills, but with the economic environment that the “no new tax” folks have provided, many people just can’t see any other way but to run up credit card and other debt to keep pace with inflation, pay basic bills, student loans and provide a little extra in the land of conspicuous consumption.

Taking notice of recent events, the household is taking a serious look into drawing up its living wills. Not living in Florida, I wouldn’t expect a Terri Schiavo -like circus… At any rate, the Decrepit Old Fool has a handy guide to killing, including the aforementioned situation:

Almost everyone agrees: they don’t want to live hooked up to a machine. But if you are unlucky enough to fall into that state without putting your wishes in writing, we must assume you want to be hooked up to any extraordinary medical measures available, no matter the suffering, the prospects for recovery, the agony it causes for their loved ones, the indignity, or the cost. Well, except in Texas, where the law says if you can?t pay, no feeding tube for you.

Having been a fan of the Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books (and subsequently of the radio shows that preceded them) since high school, my curiosity was piqued with the promise of a new film, one that would update the very funny story with new state-of-the-art special effects, very much like Red Dwarf evolved during its television series. But after watching the trailer for the film (which leads me to believe the movie was filmed in someone’s backyard over the weekend), and reading one of the first reviews, I’m guessing this will be another movie better left for for watching some forgotten Sunday morning, extended to four hours by annoying personal injury lawyer commercials. The review came form Planet Magrathea:

The Hitchhiker?s Guide to the Galaxy movie is an abomination. Whereas the radio show, TV show, books and computer game are all recognisably variations on a theme, this is something new and almost entirely unrelated. It?s not even a good film if viewed as an original work: the characters are unsympathetic, the cast exhibit no chemistry, the direction is pedestrian, the pace plodding, the special effects overpowering (lots and lots of special effects, none of them funny mind you) and above all the script is amazingly, mindbogglingly awful. Oh, and they have taken most of the jokes out.

Hitchiker’s humor has always been like Monty Python’s, it’s funny when you read it, hear it or watch it, but it’s hilarious in the re-telling. And after this movie comes out, maybe that is the only tribute we can continue to give it.

Ah, if only these ultra-cool Charles Darwin bookmarks were available as a silicon wristband, they’d be buying them by the dozens! Or the tens, or whatver. I’d buy one.

And although they’re not for sale, they’re available absolutely free at a Swarthmore College website. Beware of cheap imitations!

Mastering the Web reminds us that Yahoo! was in the news-gathering business way before Google hopped in. And while Google News will be a staple stop for my browsing needs in the foreseeable future, Yahoo!’s Full Coverage just seems to make a lot more sense to folks – like me – that started surfing online news sources back when an advanced color monitor offered a choice between green and amber.